View full sizeAmanda Waldroupe/Special to The OregonianSham Sykes, a former Marine, weeds around vegetables he helped grow. "This is exactly what I needed," the Iraq veteran says of a job training program that is teaching him to farm. His depression and memory loss have eased since he started the program.

Sham Sykes, 36, served as a combat Marine for 15 years, including two years in Iraq near Fallujah. He was part of a mobile highway patrol unit that cleared the area of insurgents and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). He was discharged because he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and experienced bouts of depression, paranoia and memory loss.

Dee Rogers, 34, had her mother sign a waiver so she could join the Marines when she was 17. While she never saw conflict, she says she experienced sexism and ostracism. When she became a civilian again, she began drinking heavily, started riding trains and became homeless for 10 years. "I didn't like structured society," she says. "I had it rough there for a bit."

Dennis Ivey, 42, served three years in the Navy during the Gulf War. When he talks about serving, a distant look crosses his eyes and he fights back tears. Like Sykes, he suffers from a form of PTSD and says he has a difficult time relating to people who have never experienced combat.

These veterans, who have experienced homelessness, unemployment and other troubles since leaving service, are now finding solace as farmers.

Roots to Road

What: A six-month program that assists veterans who've been jobless and/or homeless with learning agricultural and farming skills so they can find employment.

They are among eight veterans enrolled in Roots to Road, a program operated by a Vancouver-based job training and workforce agency, Partners in Careers. The program employs veterans part-time to farm a 1-acre plot at Clark County's 78th St. Heritage Farm. The program is designed to give veterans the knowledge and skills to enter agriculture- and farming-related jobs, such as working at farmers markets, restaurants, grocery stores, or to start their own farms.

To be eligible, veterans must be unemployed at the time of applying, be currently or formerly homeless, or have dependent children. They must also live in Clark, Wahiakum or Cowlitz counties or access services through the VA in Clark County.

The veterans first take a 10-week class on aspects of agriculture and small-scale farming, such as soil management, planting techniques, irrigation and how to deal with insects and mildew. Then they work together to seed, plant, weed, till and harvest vegetables that go to the Clark County Food Bank.

The veterans remember starting with dirt and grass in early April. "It was a lot of work out here, digging in the mud," Ivey says.

Now, tomato vines are creeping up trellises. Sugar snap pea plants have yellowed and will soon be pulled out of the ground. Carrots, onions, peppers and squash grow in long rows.

Working outside in quiet fields has benefits besides a steady income and job training.

View full sizeAmanda Waldroupe/Special to The OregonianDee Rogers weeds onions at Clark County's 78th Street Heritage Farm. She helps coordinate the Roots to Road job training program for veterans and participated in the program herself last year.

"It has completely cleared my head," Rogers says. "It's so satisfying to put things in the ground and see them grow."

"This is exactly what I needed," Sykes says. He says he hasn't experienced any episodes of depression or memory loss since spring.

Ivey says the program is more like therapy than work, and he enjoys working with other veterans. "The other vets out here understand what other people can't," he says.

Pam Brokaw, Partners in Careers executive director, says the agency created Roots to Road last year because it wanted to develop a job-training program for veterans with high needs in an expanding field. Last year the program drew five veterans, who dwindled to three.

"It's very physical work. Not everyone is interested in this kind of work," Brokaw says, adding that the program could probably accommodate two dozen veterans at a time.

Two of the original veterans -- including Rogers -- help coordinate the program. Rogers says they've made plenty of mistakes along the way, such as seeding a bed five times due to lack of communication. And one veteran pulled up chamomile thinking it was a weed.

Halfway through this year's program, the veterans are beginning to meet with job coaches to learn about opportunities possibly available to them. Brokaw says Partners in Careers has received phone calls from businesses interested in hiring the veterans.

Ivey hopes to get a job as a prep cook or in a grocery store. But he and the other vets also look forward to possibly getting to stay at Heritage Farm into the fall, if the program gets grant funding to build a greenhouse that would be used during the fall and winter.